EUN CO-LAB - Vitor M. N. Fernandes Learning Diary by Vitor M. N. Fernandes https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93 This padlet has the purpose of storing my learning activities at EUN Collaborative Teaching and Learning course (http://www.europeanschoolnetacademy.eu/en/web/collaborative-teaching-and-learning). en-us 2016-11-15 15:12:42 UTC 2023-05-17 22:38:24 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padletuploads.blob.core.windows.net/aws/69665365/9fbaa1cc6add5fe10c2d90c71b6fa666/CO_LAB5.png Module 1: Course selfie vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137782348 As suggested I used trading cards to create my selfie.]]> 2016-11-15 16:06:58 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137782348 M1.1 - What is collaborative learning? What do you understand collaborative learning to mean? In your experience of implementing collaborative learning in the classroom, have you witnessed academic achievement, student attitudes, engagement and retention being enhanced? What about the skills mentioned in the video – have you witnessed your students develop these as a result of collaborative learning? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137789958 Collaborative learning is when multiple students work together to achieve a common goal, learn something new, interpret results from an experience...
In my classroom I usually propose projects to groups of students. They usually progress faster when together than when alone. They also find their roles and adapt to each other naturally within group.
Leadership always turns up, there is always one student that drives the ship forward. Some times there is also a student that keeps behind group. When this happens I try to push him forward.]]> 2016-11-15 16:21:38 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137789958 M1.2 - Collaborative learning in a flexible classroom: Is your classroom set-up flexible and interactive like the one shown in the video? Without necessarily having access to flexible classroom furniture, has the video inspired you to see how you might make your classroom environment more collaboration friendly? What about the technology and online tools used by the students; have you used these with your students and have they effectively facilitated collaborative learning? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137796960 I have a project running, Infotech - Programming and Robotics club (https://www.facebook.com/clubeinfotech). Every year I request, from my board of directors, having a bigger classroom so I can place diverse spaces in it. Like in the video show I would like to setup different places. Currently on my classroom I have spaces for regular classes, since I teach computer science I mean, tables with computers. I also have some "dynamic" tables where we do brain storm meetings, and move them around. I would like to setup also a corner to keep materials, a soldering station, but due to space constrains that is not possible.
Currently I am not working on a classroom with an interactive board, still we use common multimedia projector as a board. This allows better work than drawing and witting on a standard board with a white marker. Sometimes we join around projection and discuss and edit things on board but it is kinda limited.]]> 2016-11-15 16:35:29 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137796960 M1.3 - Collaborative learning through project-based learning: Have you ever carried out a similar exercise to the ‘circle time’ described in this video, where the teacher explicitly discusses with students how the group work went, what were the positive and negative aspects and what could be solutions for the future? If so, has this improved your students’ collaboration skills and have you seen evidence of this in collaborative work carried out afterwards? The teacher states that ‘Technology becomes useful in class especially when collaborative practices are used’. Do you agree, and why? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137802651 Last year I run two projects with students outside normal classroom on InfoTech club. Those projects were long, one of them was CanSat 2017 (and other was Robot Party), a project sponsored by ESA. Several tasks were presented to students from parachute build, cansat can structure, electronics, programming, and many others. After each building block tests and discussion was made with students.
Next project, Robot Party, run effectively better due to previous one learnings. I think globally those projects where collaborative work was "mandatory" due to large scale tasks helped students to understand the importance of working together. Also preparing them for future studies on their life at school and college.
Technology helped development stages and final reports elaboration. This was done using Google docs in asynchronous and autonomous ways.]]> 2016-11-15 16:45:53 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137802651 M1.4 - A foreign language teacher’s experience of collaborative learning: In your experience of collaborative learning, is behavior management and getting students to stay on track a challenge? Do you agree that assessing collaborative learning is particularly difficult, and what are your experiences of this? How do you monitor teamwork? Do you find the ways mentioned in this video (e.g. through self and peer assessment) useful? What about the online tools mentioned? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137851009 Yes, defiantly management and keeping students on track is very hard. And I am not talking about a complete classroom, I am just talking about a small group of students engaged into a project. Still is not easy to keep them all at "same pace", level of engagement or quality of work.
Since I do not have a full classroom experience it was easier for me to access who was committed to do the work and whom were more "away". For a full classroom and within a lot of work islands it might be hard to very hard to achieve. 
Teamwork was monitorized just by being together with my teams of students on those projects. I only had one team and one project running at a given time.
Peer assessment was made by students realizing whom did required tasks and who didn't. Since pending tasks were required for projects success this peer assessment was made on a regular basis.
I think that the tools presented on video will help a teacher engaged on collaborative learning with a full classroom of students. Without any tool, like Scrumy suggested on video, and with just paper and pencil, it will not be an easy task to accomplish for sure.]]> 2016-11-15 18:25:01 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137851009 M1.5 - A History & Geography teacher’s experience of collaborative learning: Have you experienced similar or different difficulties in collaborating with teachers, and if so why?Do you, like the teacher in this video, find it difficult to guarantee the quality of the collaboration that takes place between your students?What about the uneven efforts made by individual group members resulting in frustration for some students when it comes to assessment of the whole group? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137931184 Yes, similar. I've submitted and eTwinning project that was accepted. My partners after approval project did not move forward. Partners "left" project and my students never had a chance to interact with foreign peers. 
Also Yes. Most groups made for classroom project with groups of three or more students have huge work gaps between them, usually one or two students stay behind and let others work on their share of work. Sometimes groups are "efficient" and dilute this but other times is clear that something is wrong. 
Above leads to answer next question. If overall grading impacts on collaborative work since some students on group did not work it is true that the ones who work disagree on grading. Only being flexible and trying to understand what really happened allows to solve this. To mitigate this, if clear and justified, within group different grades are given.]]> 2016-11-15 22:23:09 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137931184 ____ vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137931291 Just to keep some space on bottom of padlet page ;-) ...]]> 2016-11-15 22:23:48 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137931291 Module 1: Learning Activity vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137934147 I select an individual computer science project (Visual Studio and MySQL) for low level of collaboration and participating on CanSat 2016 project for high level of collaboration.
Activity 1: From first activity was expected a very low level of collaboration from students, mostly since all projects are different and individual. Still students showed up some collaboration due to my delays to reach and to help them individually since they were many. As a way to circumvent this students also ask questions to nearby colleagues to solve their doubts. This showed up naturally and helped the work developed by students to proceed at a faster pace.
Activity 2: The second, CanSat 2016, required a huge collaboration between students. Collaboration between students would also be a plus, since project required knowledge from several areas like Math, Physics and others. This project mixes several STEM areas and is one of the most complete learning projects I have found till know. Students need to build together a mini probe / sattelite. All is done by students from recovery system (parachute), electronics, programming, cansat structure... all. For such an engineering project students must collaborate very tighly due to many areas of expertise required, being a long term project and the ideia behind if someone is not collaborating the damage will increase with time. Checkpoint are required to keep team together (usually weekly) so success is possible. By success I just mean participating in the final with a working system... From my experience almost everything is possible to go wrong. Last minute changes depend hugelly on students working together and everyone knowing what should be done at each step of every process. Only way to have a better ideia about what I have been describing is to participate with a team ;-)!]]> 2016-11-15 22:44:27 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137934147 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137937819 Module 2: How can you design collaborative learning in the classroom?]]> 2016-11-15 23:14:06 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/137937819 M2.2 - Embedding collaborative learning into lesson design: Do you agree about the importance to have a shared language concerning what we mean by collaborative learning? Do you agree that having collaborative skills is not a personality trait and that you can design learning activities to develop these skills in your pupils? Professor Butler mentions that ‘Technology can support new pedagogies that focus on learners as active participants with tools for inquiry-based pedagogies and collaborative work spaces’. Do you agree, and what are your experiences of this? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138077619 Yes, I agree. If no "consensus" is made probably single efforts to enable collaborative learning will not spread out.
Yes, I also agree. Most skills are only activated after you require them. After of course you need to train them so you can achieve a better performance. Probably instead of proposing to each student to develop it's own project as an individual proposal should be made for a small group with common objectives. Since within group they have a common purpose. With some guidance within project management project development by groups students should make clear that groups collaborating would perform better than single students or also against groups that do not collaborate.
Yes, again I agree. My bigger experiences are working with students for out of school projects. Like previously stated in Module 1, CanSat 2016, was a big experience in collaboration since it is a core competence to somehow achieve success within this project due to it's complexity and areas of expertise required. Most of times I just give students hints and after they should do research and find some of best solutions available, and next choose one to implement. Also the fail fast, try again, is one of ways so keep project improving.]]> 2016-11-16 14:29:50 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138077619 vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138078785 2016-11-16 14:31:38 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138078785 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138078811 Module 1: What is collaborative learning?]]> 2016-11-16 14:31:40 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138078811 M2.3 - The 4 Collaboration Questions: What do you think of the 4 major questions presented by Professor Deirdre Butler? Are they useful in helping you design a collaborative learning activity?Have you asked yourself these questions before when designing collaborative learning activities? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138090371 I think that questions posed by Professor Deirdre Butler are quite relevant! I never sit down to think about what collaborative would really mean and how should it be deployed. Now I have a better starting point to re-think the whole process at hand and improve my projects (and classroom) students collaboration deployment.
They would be soon, I am sure of it!
I had some notions of what would be required to achieve project goals and final product. The process itself, from start to end, will be re-thinked with those questions now in my mind. I will also try to drop on table only some parts of project, at a time, and not entire project at once to decrease the "students overwhelmed" factor.]]> 2016-11-16 14:54:47 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138090371 Collaboration: Decision Steps (from M2.4) vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138103116 To keep in my mind ;-)!]]> 2016-11-16 15:18:54 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138103116 M2.4 - 21 CLD Collaboration Rubric: How useful do you find the rubric Professor Deirdre Butler explained? Do you think it is useful in helping you understand the type and quality of collaboration taking place in the learning activities you design? Have you used this or similar rubrics before to help you design collaborative learning activities? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of it? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138113473 I find it very helpful. I inclusevly posted it here so I don't forget it. It clearly shows that collaboration should not be thinked after activity is made but since start.
Clearly it will be very usefull since I can also aim for a collaboration code level. Not every activity will aim a 5. Certaintly delivering individual projects to students should be re-thinked. Still I think that keeping a single same project for all class kills diversity so I am constructing my mental map on to use this collaborative approach the best way possible into my classroom.
No, I did not have. Basically I keep and ongoing process running and not a collaborative design as a base for activities. Some were group activities and others individual. With this rubric it will be easier to keep track of what my objective will be and plan to achieve in from start.
I mostly see advantages now. It can be used for planning and assement so it will be there for the entire activity plan, start, development, closing and assement. It seems great to keep by hand and use it! Only disadvantage I may see is the time required to build it all up with curriculum constrains... but we are here to do our best ;-).]]> 2016-11-16 15:35:03 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138113473 M2.5 - Collaborative learning scenarios: Check out the scenario template and 6 example scenarios in the resource section of this module. What do you think of the template? What do you think of the example scenarios?Do you find them inspiring? Can you see how you might adapt some scenarios to create collaborative learning activities for your own context? What do you find useful or less useful about these scenarios? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138138790 I think it is a very good resource to fully plan a collaborative activity. It shows up the 7 steps required to finish the activity: dream, explore, map, make, ask, re-make and show, with expected time schedule crossed with goal, description, learning environment, digital technologies and tools, roles, collaboration and individual work, reflection and finally assessment.
The example scenarios give lots of clues and ideas on how to correctly use the template. They all seem very accurate on what they try to achieve through all the process. Still some are very generic and adaptable to almost any activity (since main goal is to develop i.e. team-working, collaborative and other skills) and other very specific like Art & Music or Asteroids Impacts & Craters.
They are very inspiring and make me want to build classroom activities and/or projects from given template.
Scenarios shown could be adaptable to courses I teach like Computer Architecture, Networks and/or Programming. Just need to adapt and plan with this new teaching scenarios.
Presented scenarios will be, for sure, very helpful so I can (re)design, plan, execute, finish and assess my classroom collaborative activities. I can also adapt this to a running project like CanSat 2017 since it becomes clear that it would be nice to share my current learnings with students running this project and altogether try to use those new strategies to help our project development. Probably if any scenario matched some course I lecture they would be more useful still is just a small step of adapting to new themes.]]> 2016-11-16 16:21:26 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138138790 x vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138188186 2016-11-16 18:03:47 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138188186 Module 2 Learning Activity vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138198847 Activity 1: Individual Project Development [Code 1]
This activity consisted in an individual computer science project (Visual Studio and MySQL). Since this is an activity developed by each student and each student have their own theme all projects are different. According to "Collaboration: Decision Steps" and since there are no groups answer to question "Students are required to work in pairs or groups?" is a no so easily we can assess that this activity has a "Code 1" the least the code scale.
Still I would like to say that students when required turn to their peers for help on specific problems that they are facing at that moment but that other colleagues already passed by and solved. Me as a teacher I am around providing as much support as possible and point debug strategies so students are able to finish their projects. This projects usually take around 4 week, maybe more to be finished.
Activity 2: CanSat 2016 Project [Code 5]
This is a completely different activity from first one. This is a team-work project where students evolved must work together to achieve a common goal. So answer to first question will be yes. Regarding question 2, "Students have shared responsibility?", is also yes. Project usually goes through a top-down analysis and is split in multiple activities. Each activity must be performed so project and be assembled and all working as a final product. Usually those small tasks are made usually with at least 2 students evolved that must finish it and present to other students it as a working package. About question 2, "Students make substantive decisions together?", is also yes. They must choose mission to undertake on project, they must choose sensors, they must select which type or structure can must have, they must build their own parachute... All those will have impact on global project from fully working to a failure so I would say yes, they make substantive decisions and together. Finally on question 4, "Students’ work is interdependent?", yes, yes! If a work package fails all others that depend on that one will not work alone. If parachute fails and cansat drops at free fall mission fails. If telemetry is not sent to ground station mission fails. Etc. Their work is fully meshed and interdependent as question refers. Since all questions are yes I would evaluate the collaborative level as a 5.]]> 2016-11-16 18:26:32 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138198847 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138204756 Module 3:  How can you assess collaborative learning? ]]> 2016-11-16 18:38:09 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138204756 M3.6 - Collaborative learning and student peer reviews: When setting up student groups to work on a project, Anna often leaves students free to decide who they would like to work with and each team member’s role. However, when it comes to peer assessment Anna prefers to use a random name picking tool, as she believes this helps ensure objectivity and is more likely to encourage useful and constructive feedback among peers. Do you agree with these different approaches? Anna mentions a variety of digital tools which are helpful in implementing and assessing collaborative work, such as Edmodo, Scrumy, Tackks, Padlets, Google Forms etc. What are your experiences of these tools? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138218567 The randomization of student name on assessment seems a nice strategy compared to teacher selection and finger pointing. First the feeling on being selected vs. a random chance (my "bad luck"), second if colleagues did it before... It just seems that now is my time to do it. I think it becomes natural to be in that position and not some hidden agenda of the teacher based selection. So, yes, I agree.
I need to increase my usage of collaborative tools for sure. I have some experience with Padlet, Google docs & forms and Doodle. Padlet: mostly from this course, I confess, but also had some training on Web 2.0 before. Google docs is used extensively on group reports, Google forms for evaluation and Doodle for scheduling.]]> 2016-11-16 19:05:42 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138218567 Scenarios: Template (from M2.5) vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138221237 2016-11-16 19:12:41 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138221237 M3.2 - TeachMeet - Collaboration: together and beyond! vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138241643 Don't forget:
As part of the Collaborative Teaching and Learning course, we are organizing an online Teachmeet on:
Wednesday 23rd November at 18:00 CET. 
]]> 2016-11-16 20:06:47 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138241643 M3.3 Assessment for improving collaborative learning: Do you think your assessment of collaborative work sometimes discourages students or encourages competition? If yes, how you do think this could be avoided? Is the assessment you carry out brief, clear and timely, and how do you ensure it is so; do you have tips to suggest for others? Does the summative assessment of each student in your school/subject take into account the learning outcomes related to collaborative work (such as project work/results)? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138255657 I think both can happen. It will depend on group dynamics working on each proposed activity. On any group, young age, older, is not easy to find a balanced group where everyone knows their role, what is expected from him and deliver expected results. Usually there is always someone that leads the group or tries to lead it and someone that is lazy or shy, living in the shadow, and on work end will have a similar grade since he was within a group.
The only way this could be avoided would be by a consistent observation and trying to put group on track so everyone contributes / collaborates to final result in a more equal way.
Usually I average grades within groups due to not being clear who did perform better and worst. Grading and assessing is not an easy task. Probably having checkpoints and peer assessment will improve final grading analysis within groups.
From my own experience no. Students that I have participating in projects, like last year CanSat 2016, do not see their performance reflected on course grades. I am pursuing this so I can integrate those external projects results into my courses grading... Still would it be fair for students that willingly did not participate on an optional project? Should those students that participated have an advantage over other students? Some fuzzy lines here... I hope that from a discussion with all students they will agree that who work most (even if optionally) should get some benefit from it.]]> 2016-11-16 20:58:23 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138255657 M3.4 - A sports teacher's experience of assessing students’ collaborative learning: What do you think about the various assessment methods used by Chrysa to assess her pupils’ collaborative learning? Do you think the questions she asked her pupils were helpful in getting them to reflect about their collaborative skills? What do you think about implementing peer assessment with pupils of a young age (6-11 year olds)? Are there special considerations to be taken into account? What about her final question she asks us and our expert to reflect on; do you find it challenging to know how best to assess the individual participation of a student in a collaborative activity? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138359938 I think that was a nice assessment mix in place, with three vectors: individual performance, group performance and group functionality. Those allow to have a better understanding of what each student did, what group was able to do and how the group did work to achieve it.
Yes, I think the questions were appropriate. Students together in plenary were able to see from peers what were their work strong points and not so strong ones. They were also able to see what they would like to do on their future work that was done by others.
I think it is a good clue on how to evaluate collaborative work. I'm mostly engaged with secondary education still it seems that it worked out quite ok.
I think that video demonstrates that this peer assessment can be done in a very constructive way and not as a way to empathize what bad work is. 
Assessment is hard and collaborative assessment is even harder. One of questions I like most is the one that points if individual work should be assessed during product development if what should be evaluated would be the final collaborative work. I think this question does not have an easy answer. I will depend on groups maturity, previous work experience and other factor. Considering all will grade the importance of looking over each student shoulder to see what he is really doing or not.]]> 2016-11-17 11:51:13 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138359938 M3.5 An ICT teacher’s experience of assessing students’ collaborative learningWhat do you think about the projects described by Antonio, from the student collaboration point of view, as well as the teacher collaboration point of view?Do you agree with the 7 benefits Antonio associates to assessing collaborative learning?What about the challenges he mentions concerning group dynamics, team management and the time needed to prepare and implement assessment of collaborative learning in the classroom – are these challenges you also face?Antonio mentions the use of collaborative digital tools, reorganizing the classroom space and introducing more interdisciplinary teaching and the sharing of materials amongst teachers as useful tips. Do you agree and what are your experiences of these suggestions? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138363911 eTwinning is a great platform to develop international projects with other teachers and setup a collaborative workspace for their students. I've been engaged on a teachers training course so other teachers will become eTwinners. So we can consider that in Portugal there is investment, by public ministry, towards motivating teachers to engage in eTwinning projects.
Yes, I agree. They can easily be used as a reference.
Collaborative work poses a lot of challenges. One I am most confronted is not having a classroom big enough to create multi-purpose spaces on it. I will keep struggling so I can achieve this since I think this would increase student motivation also. Also the use of flexible floor planning maybe with other kind of tables that would allow students to be more face-to-face.
The one I mostly agree is the organizing the classroom space. This imposes challenged when you have other teachers also teaching on same room but keep using traditional ways of teaching. Also interdisciplinary teaching cannot be easily achieved due to lack of teachers schedule control. This would be easier if teachers working together could have time on their schedules to be together and plan such activities.]]> 2016-11-17 12:12:37 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138363911 M3.7 - Collaborative learning: What to assess and how? Have you ever used existing rubrics and checklists to assess collaborative work? Have you ever constructed your own rubrics or checklists for this purpose? What about involving students in the design of rubrics, checklists or other assessment tools? What have been your experiences? What do you think of the tips given for constructing rubrics and checklists in the video? Are the guidelines and examples given in the CO-LAB Assessment Guidelines useful? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138434985 Most collaborative work I've done with students is on group projects and out of school STEM projects. On those projects due to lack of experience I've never used a true collaborative work assessment artifacts. My assessment was usually based on group achieving end goals and their final presentation results. Thus I just used a small part of what collaborative work assessment should be, but now I know more on how to implement and how to use to evaluate the full process.
I've used mostly checklists to see if final products reach a set of initial requirements.
Those checklists usually have students as stakeholders since this will improve their acceptance and knowledge of what is requested from them on end.
With checklists students try to match as much items as possible since they know the more they check higher will be their grade. This way students know exactly what is required from them and can set their own objectives.
The tips, guidelines and examples will be very useful to enhance my collaborative activities assessment. Examples are easily usable and give a lot of ideas on how to build my own.]]> 2016-11-17 15:23:10 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138434985 M3.8 - Answers to teachers’ questions on assessing collaborative learning: Dr. Luis Valente suggests self and peer assessment can help students to move away from seeing teachers as the only source of judgement about the quality of their learning, thereby helping them to become more independent learners. Do you agree, and what are your experiences of this?He also notes that research shows that self-assessment combined with peer assessment reduces the trend for ‘friendship dependency’, ‘benefit of the dominators’ and ‘benefit of parasitism’. Does this match with your experiences? What do you think of assigning a percentage weight to individual assessment as part of the summative assessment related to collaborative work?Any other thoughts on Dr. Valente’s suggestions? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138459056 I fully agree. Inclusivly if peer assessment is accurate we can almost remove teacher from assessment equation. Of course teacher should be present to mediate the process and to keep it fair for all students and groups. We must average deviations due to biasing and lack of assessment correctnees from some students and / or groups.
I have no experience to comment if it reduces or not still it seems it should match my future experiences.
If it helps to reduce the trend for friendship dependency, benefit of the dominators and benefit of parasitism it clearly should be used. When a group presents a work if on development I noticed that some students are more engaged than others or that they work more I try to diferenciate grading and justify it after final presentation, so it acts like a mix of individual and collaborative assessment (but not by peers).]]> 2016-11-17 16:14:48 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138459056 Module 3 Learning Activity vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138563561 Starting my collaborative lesson plan (draft), using http://learningdesigner.org/ , showing first 3 TLAs. ]]> 2016-11-17 20:52:07 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138563561 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138563848 Module 4: How can teacher collaboration facilitate collaborative learning? ]]> 2016-11-17 20:53:14 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138563848 Module 3 Learning Activity details vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138632266 (draft)]]> 2016-11-18 08:48:19 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138632266 M4.1.1 "Questions and answers" sessionIn this live event that will take place on 15th November at 18:00 CET, Deirdre Butler will be presenting an informal "questions and answers" session where participants will have the chance to ask her any question related to any topic of the course. Please use this padlet to ask Deirdre any question or doubt you may have before the event. We will relay these questions to her at the end of the session. Thanks to all vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138635364 Due to starting this course late (I was involved in an eTwinning training course to develop eTwinning training courses for teachers at same time) I could not attend this live event.
I hope that a transcript and / or a recording of it will be available...
Best collaborative learning for all.]]> 2016-11-18 09:09:03 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138635364 Module 3 Learning Activity work... vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138635465 I will continue developing my collaborative lesson plan while attending Module 4...]]> 2016-11-18 09:09:58 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138635465 M4.2 - A primary school teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration: What do you think about the ‘co-teaching rotation’ collaboration model mentioned by Valentina? Do you find it an interesting approach, and is it one you have experience of? Valentina mentions the need for teachers to bring their best skills and practices to the team while remaining flexible to adapt them in case others suggest better ways of working. Do you agree with this and what are your experiences of acting upon the constructive criticisms of other teachers? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138668794 I think it is very interesting to see two teachers supporting a classroom at same time or switching teachers present from time to time. This  way students can benefit from the two teachers experiences and when both are present I think learning process will be more fluid and student questions and doubts can be addressed in half of regular time with a single teacher is present in classroom.
I have reduced experience with such young students still sometimes this has been tried with same age and also with older students in my own school. Primary school has introduced programming to curriculum and when those classes happen there is in classroom an ICT teacher and also the "regular" teacher that will make it to be similar to "co-teaching". At older ages, on secondary school, in programming courses we are also testing "co-teaching" and switching teachers, but last mostly when a teacher is absent and other teacher supports classroom learning.
Every teacher is different, teach same subjects with different strategies. Learning with peers strategies is a must have experience and bring other teachers good practices to your own classes.]]> 2016-11-18 12:29:45 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138668794 M4.3 - A secondary teacher’s experience of teacher collaboration: Have you heard of all the platforms and digital tools mentioned by Reyhan in the video, and what are your experiences of using them for teacher collaboration? Do you agree that not all teachers have the required skills to take advantage of digital technologies? Reyhan mentions social media networks, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, as particularly useful spaces for teacher collaboration and professional learning. What are your experiences of social media networks for teacher collaboration and professional learning?What emerging digital technologies are you aware of that can help teachers collaborate more efficiently? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138675658 (Tools from video: Skype, ePals platform, eTwinning platform, Blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, edweb, dropBox, Google docs.)
I have reduced experience with teachers collaboration. I am trying to slowly build a functional network but sometimes is not that easy as it should be :-). I know most of tools referred by Reyhan. Still I did not know about ePals platform and edWeb.
Yes, that is true. Still and since I am an Computer Science teacher most colleagues on mine know those tools. Probably due to some lack of motivation most keep teaching within the "traditional way".
I have accounts on Facebook and LinkedIn. Facebook I keep, besides family connections, people that I usually have done some kind of task or met on some event. I use it also as a way to show my participations in events, projects and products. I confess LinkedIn is mostly used a contacts list. AI have an account on Twitter but I usually do not use it. Probably I do not feel the need of twitting since most messaging is done via Facebook chat or posts. Just a trend that I don't follow since I think Facebook is more usable?!
Any technology that allows a community to communicate, synchronous or asynchronously, structured information storage, collaborative editing, voice / audio / video / desktop sharing will be great for collaborative work. Lately from eTwinning platform I've been using Adobe Connect that seems a nice tool to use for multiple face-to-face communication. It supports several items from above... But not all!]]> 2016-11-18 13:03:41 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138675658 M4.4 - The benefits and challenges of teacher collaboration: Do you agree with the benefits and challenges highlighted by Professor Butler? Which benefits and challenges would you add based on your experiences? What opportunities have you been able to take advantage of in your own context to collaborate with teachers both in and outside of school? Do you collaborate with teachers in your own subject group, across age groups or across themes relevant to the whole school, and if so how? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138708717 Yes, one of most complex issues I am faced is to have a common slot to cooperate with other teachers. Our schedule is so full of different areas. I am a Computer Science teacher and only on our programming course we have 4 disciplines that go across 3 school years, thus 12 different levels are possible. (There even more since our department also teaches primary school and in other courses like the multimedia course.) Sometimes teachers are just facing the burden of preparing next class so all their free time is gone with that objective in mind. It even gets worst since most times they are alone teaching that theme.
Benefits are the possibilities given by observing other teachers experience and learning new ways to do the old same thing.
I've been trying to have a classroom to work with students and even with other teachers. That space is still not available, at least for InfoTech - Programming and Robotics club. Within school I have a mobile devices programming project with other two teachers, called Projecto Go! I tried last year to setup an eTwinning project but it did not work as expected... A lot to learn yet!
Yes, some collaboration is done but again, since most times each project is assigned a single discipline, the level of collaboration is low.]]> 2016-11-18 14:42:32 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138708717 M4.5 - Skills and conditions needed for teacher collaboration: Do you agree with the list of skills and conditions mentioned as necessary for teacher collaboration to flourish in schools? What would you add to this list based on your experiences? Does the leadership in your teacher training institution or the current school in which you teach model collaboration? If so, how, and do you think this is motivating and beneficial for students? Do you work with teachers who are sceptical about collaboration, and what have you/will you try to help them see the advantages of this way of working? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138769872 Yes, list is quite complete.
I would add the need for physical space to the equation and, of course, school principal must be motivated to this questions and engaged on the process with a global vision.
I think there is no explicit model. Collaboration is made at teachers will within their networks and friendships. I also don't see much transparency so that students see what is happening in backstage since they are more recipients now than stakeholders of the process. New vision and processes are required to involve students on their learning process construction and development.
Usually most personal experiences I have with collaboration with other teachers are related to teacher training and group product development. Inside school I have some projects but collaboration is at a low level per say.]]> 2016-11-18 17:14:52 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138769872 M4.6 - How technology can facilitate teacher collaboration: Do you use technology specifically for the purpose of collaborating with other teachers?Would you say that the nature of your digital collaboration with teachers is equivalent to ‘sending and displaying’, as mentioned in the video, or more about processing, analyzing and sharing?Why do you think this is and can you give examples?Which digital tools would you recommend for teachers to use for collaborating and why? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138780145 When collaborating with peers besides office documents exchange I use google docs so multiple teachers can work and change content in a group like meeting. When we do collaborative editing we also use Facebook chat / voice / video. Some times and if available we also have experience on using Adobe Connect.
Most times is equivalent to ‘sending and displaying but the "true collaborative" way of doing things is popping out and changing to processing, analyzing and sharing. At least is where I think we should to move to.
To achieve a higher level of collaboration shared responsibility and substantial decisions must be made by all stakeholders. If the process resumes to edit send, edit send,... It becomes so traditional that it will take time to work if ever. Collaboration also implies that dynamics must be made and if group has 3 or more people they must share to all and all able to edit, comment, mix, etc.
At early levels of collaboration I think that using Google docs and a chat (Skype or Facebook) might be the core to start some kind of collaborative work. After if all agree and engage they can move to more robust platforms, use voice, video... basically a step-by-step evolving process. No need to use all if you do not use anything properly.

]]> 2016-11-18 17:42:43 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138780145 M4.7 - Irish teachers’ reflections on teacher collaboration: Do you agree that finding time within the school day for teacher collaboration is challenging? What are your experiences of this, and what solutions have you tried to overcome this challenge? Do you agree that working with teachers from different disciplines can be very useful, and what are your experiences of this? What are the conditions needed in your opinion for this to work? vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138789475 Time,... Yes, time is very hard to find. Already reflected about this topic before. Mostly because is hard to find schedule slots to work with other teachers in school. Also because most of teachers time is to prepare next classes due to sometimes the number of topics / areas that teacher has.
Solution to meet and try to collaborate is to schedule meetings in school, from time to time, to address some topics. But this is not regular and so collaboration level is reduced. Teacher schedules do not take into account those collaborative requirements. Still we live in an evolving world and change seems closer and closer. Let's expect the best.
Yes, it is useful. Has said before have a small project InfoTech - Programming and Robotics club where students work together in projects. A project like CanSat requires extensive knowledge on multiple areas like Physics, Electronics, Materials... I would be easy to see how contributes from multiple teachers to improve this project development would be important. I will try to put this challenge over the table this year and expect to have some good feedback and participation.
Time and Space! Time must be considered on each school year start and somehow given to whom requires it and uses it. Space, yes physical space, where teachers can work together and ultimately with their students, but a space that is not static. We need multi-purpose spaces that are flexible and adapt to each day requirements. Also spaces that look clean, new, with materials required to improve students motivation. I work in a public school and sometimes public investment is very narrow so this process will be slow but I expect it will happen soon.]]> 2016-11-18 18:10:02 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138789475 Module 4 Lesson Plan vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138834873 Completed.
Submitted for review by peers...
Waiting for lesson plans from peers to review myself...

;-) ...

A very nice experience until now... My first MOOC :-D!]]> 2016-11-18 20:47:15 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/138834873 Vitor M. N. Fernandes CO-LAB European Schoolnet Academy badges, learning diary and lesson plan... vmnf https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/141096793 Learning diary: https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93
Lesson plan: https://v.gd/0jNCxr]]> 2016-12-01 13:58:09 UTC https://padlet.com/vmnf/t15kcywjqs93/wish/141096793